Google News

{{short description|News aggregator website and app}}

{{About|Google's news aggregator|the former app|Google News & Weather|Google's initiative to support journalists|Google News Lab|access to newsgroups through Google|Google Groups}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2012}}

{{Infobox software

| name = Google News

| logo = Google News icon.svg

| logo_size = 120px

| screenshot = GoogleNewsInterface.png

| caption = Google News Homepage

| collapsible = yes

| developer = Google

| released = {{sda|2002|09}}

| ver layout = stacked

| platform = Android, web

| language count = 38

| language = Afrikaans, Arabic, Bengali, Bulgarian, Catalan, Cantonese, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Indonesian, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malayalam, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese

| genre = News aggregator

}}

Google News is a news aggregator service developed by Google. It presents a continuous flow of links to articles organized from thousands of publishers and magazines.

Google News is available as an app on Android, iOS, and the Web. Google released a beta version in September 2002 and the official app in January 2006.Krishna Bharat, [http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/01/and-now-news.html "And now, News"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110128202049/http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/01/and-now-news.html |date=January 28, 2011 }}, The Official Google Blog, January 23, 2006. Accessed June 19, 2008. The initial idea was developed by Krishna Bharat.{{cite web|last=Glaser|first=Mark|title=Google News to Publishers: Let's Make Love Not War|publisher=PBS|url=https://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/02/google-news-to-publishers-lets-make-love-not-war035.html|date=February 4, 2010|access-date=April 2, 2010|archive-date=November 13, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113001214/http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/02/google-news-to-publishers-lets-make-love-not-war035.html|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://www.google.com/googlefriends/morejul03.html|title=Google Friends Newsletter – Q&A with Krishna Bharat|date=July 2003|access-date=April 4, 2009|archive-date=March 17, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090317021110/http://www.google.com/googlefriends/morejul03.html|url-status=live}}

The service has been described as the world's largest news aggregator.{{Cite thesis|title=Normalization and differentiation in Google News: a multi-method analysis of the world's largest news aggregator|url=https://rucore.libraries.rutgers.edu/rutgers-lib/62647/|publisher=Rutgers University - School of Graduate Studies|date=2020|language=en|first=Qun|last=Wang|access-date=March 19, 2020|archive-date=March 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200319081747/https://rucore.libraries.rutgers.edu/rutgers-lib/62647/|url-status=live}} In 2020, Google announced they would be spending {{currency|1|USD}} billion to work with publishers to create Showcases, "a new format for insightful feature stories".{{cite web |title=Google is spending $1 billion to bring you a new Google News feature |url=https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/10/01/google-is-spending-1-billion-to-bring-you-a-new-google-news-feature/ |website=Android Police |access-date=5 October 2020 |date=1 October 2020 |archive-date=October 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201004022229/https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/10/01/google-is-spending-1-billion-to-bring-you-a-new-google-news-feature/ |url-status=live }}

History

As of 2014, Google News was watching more than 50,000{{cite news|last1=Filloux|first1=Frederic|title=Google News: the secret sauce|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/feb/25/1|access-date=8 June 2017|work=The Guardian|date=25 February 2013|archive-date=September 13, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170913231132/https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/feb/25/1|url-status=live}} news sources worldwide. Versions for more than 60 regions in 28 languages were available in March 2012. {{As of|2025|05}}, service is offered in the following 38 languages: Afrikaans, Arabic, Bengali, Bulgarian, Catalan, Cantonese, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Indonesian, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malayalam, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.{{cite news|url=http://googlenewsblog.blogspot.lt/2015/08/spreading-news-in-new-languages.html|title=Google News Blog: Spreading the News in New Languages|work=Google News Blog|access-date=September 4, 2015|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304045032/http://googlenewsblog.blogspot.lt/2015/08/spreading-news-in-new-languages.html|url-status=live}}

The service covers news articles appearing within the past 44 days on various news websites. In total, Google News aggregates content from more than 20,000 publishers.{{Cite news |first=Joshua |last=Cohen |title=Same Protocol, More Options for News Publishers |url=http://googlenewsblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/same-protocol-more-options-for-news.html |date=December 2, 2009 |access-date=April 5, 2010 |archive-date=December 2, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101202024919/http://googlenewsblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/same-protocol-more-options-for-news.html |url-status=live }} For the English language, it covers about 4,500 sites;As used to be reported by Google. See also Segev, Elad (2010). Google and the Digital Divide: The Biases of Online Knowledge, Oxford: Chandos Publishing. for other languages, fewer. Its front page provides roughly the first 200 characters of the article and a link to its larger content. Websites may or may not require a subscription; sites requiring a subscription are no longer noted in the article's description.{{Cite news |title=Technical Requirements: Registration/subscription sites |url=https://support.google.com/news/publisher/answer/40543?hl=en|publisher=Google Inc. |access-date=April 5, 2010 |archive-date=January 16, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116145621/https://support.google.com/news/publisher/answer/40543?hl=en |url-status=live }}

The "first click free" program, introduced in 2008,{{cite web|url=http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/10/first-click-free-for-web-search.html|title=Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: First Click Free for Web Search|work=Official Google Webmaster Central Blog|access-date=December 3, 2009|archive-date=December 2, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101202035750/http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/10/first-click-free-for-web-search.html|url-status=live}} allowed users to find and read articles behind a paywall. The reader's first click to the content is free, and the number after that would be set by the content provider.{{Cite news|first= Scott|last= Morrison|title=Google To Let News Groups Set Reader Limits |url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/google-to-let-news-groups-set-reader-limits/story-e6frg996-1225805985859 |work=The Australian |date=December 2, 2009 |access-date=April 2, 2010 }} On December 1, 2009, Google changed its policy to allow a limit of five articles per day, in order to protect publishers from abuse.{{Cite web|title=Changes in First Click Free|url=https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2009/12/changes-in-first-click-free.html|access-date=2020-07-02|website=Official Google Webmaster Central Blog|language=en|archive-date=July 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200702070500/https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2009/12/changes-in-first-click-free.html|url-status=live}} This policy was again changed on September 29, 2015 where this limit was changed to three articles per day.{{Cite web|title=First Click Free update|url=https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2015/09/first-click-free-update.html|access-date=2020-07-02|website=Official Google Webmaster Central Blog|language=en|archive-date=July 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200702060058/https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2015/09/first-click-free-update.html|url-status=live}} In October 2017, this program was replaced with a "flexible sampling" model in which each publisher chooses how many, if any, free articles were allowed.{{Cite web|date=2017-10-02|title=Driving the future of digital subscriptions|url=https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/google-news-initiative/driving-future-digital-subscriptions/|access-date=2021-02-18|website=Google|language=en|archive-date=January 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125112629/https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/google-news-initiative/driving-future-digital-subscriptions/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|date=2017-10-02|title=Google: First Click Free is over, being replaced by Flexible Sampling|url=https://searchengineland.com/google-first-click-free-replaced-flexible-sampling-283667|access-date=2021-02-18|website=Search Engine Land|archive-date=April 22, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422020531/https://searchengineland.com/google-first-click-free-replaced-flexible-sampling-283667|url-status=live}}

The layout of Google News underwent a major revision on May 16, 2011.

On July 14, 2011, Google introduced "Google News Badges",{{cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2011/07/15/google-news-badges-we-dont-need-no-stinking-google-news-badges/|title=Google News Badges? We Don't Need No Stinking Google News Badges|author1=Robin Wauters|date=July 15, 2011|publisher=AOL|work=TechCrunch|access-date=June 25, 2017|archive-date=May 5, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170505103636/https://techcrunch.com/2011/07/15/google-news-badges-we-dont-need-no-stinking-google-news-badges/|url-status=live}} which it later retired in October 2012.{{cite web|url=http://phys.org/news/2012-09-google-news-badges-house.html|title=Google strips news badges in house cleaning|access-date=December 11, 2014|archive-date=August 16, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816003745/http://phys.org/news/2012-09-google-news-badges-house.html|url-status=live}}

In June 2017, the desktop version of Google News saw a thorough redesign that according to Google had the goal to "make news more accessible and easier to navigate ... with a renewed focus on facts, diverse perspectives, and more control for users."{{Cite news|url=https://www.blog.google/topics/journalism-news/redesigning-google-news-everyone/|title=Redesigning Google News for everyone|date=2017-06-27|access-date=2017-07-03|language=en|archive-date=July 3, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170703011815/https://www.blog.google/topics/journalism-news/redesigning-google-news-everyone/|url-status=live}} Yet several options such as the search tools menu were removed along with the redesign, making searches much more difficult. It now uses a card format for grouping related news stories, and as summarized by Engadget, "doesn't look like a search results page anymore", removing text snippets and blue links.{{Cite web |url=https://www.engadget.com/2017/06/27/google-news-redesigned-cleaner-look/ |title=Google News redesigned with a cleaner look |website=Engadget |date=June 28, 2017 |access-date=2017-07-03 |archive-date=June 29, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170629174400/https://www.engadget.com/2017/06/27/google-news-redesigned-cleaner-look/ |url-status=live }}

Historically users could choose to hide articles originating from a news source. These hidden sources can still be listed in a user's settings however these exclusions are no longer honoured. The option to exclude a source of news items is no longer presented.

According to a 2020 study in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, Google News prioritizes local news outlets when individuals search for keywords specifically related to topics of local interest.{{Cite journal|last1=Fischer|first1=Sean|last2=Jaidka|first2=Kokil|last3=Lelkes|first3=Yphtach|date=2020-09-21|title=Auditing local news presence on Google News|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-020-00954-0|journal=Nature Human Behaviour|volume=4|issue=12|language=en|pages=1236–1244|doi=10.1038/s41562-020-00954-0|pmid=32958902|s2cid=221844118|issn=2397-3374|access-date=October 1, 2020|archive-date=September 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924074528/https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-020-00954-0|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}

On October 18, 2023 Google confirmed they cut at least 40 jobs in the news division. Google clarified that: "These internal changes have no impact on our misinformation and information quality work in News."{{Cite web |last=Elias |first=Jennifer |date=2023-10-18 |title=Google cuts dozens of jobs in news division |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/18/google-cuts-dozens-of-jobs-in-news-division-.html |access-date=2023-10-20 |website=CNBC |language=en}}

Controversies with publishers

= Compensation for disseminating access to news =

The 2019 Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market requires Google News to license content from news sites. As of June 2023, Google had reached copyright licensing agreements with 1,500 publications in order to come into compliance with the Directive.[https://blog.google/around-the-globe/google-europe/google-licenses-content-from-news-publishers-under-the-eu-copyright-directive/ Google licenses content from news publishers under the EU Copyright Directive]

Lobbying by Europe-based news outlets goes back to at least the 2010s. In Germany, their lobbying led to the introduction of the ancillary copyright for press publishers in 2013. In October 2014, a group of German publishers granted Google a license to use snippets of their publications gratis; the group had first claimed that such snippets were illegal, and then complained when they were removed by Google.[https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20141023/06145528919/german-publishers-grant-google-free-license-google-never-needed-to-post-news-snippets.shtml German Publishers Grant Google A 'Free License' Google Never Needed To Post News Snippets] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160411011643/https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20141023/06145528919/german-publishers-grant-google-free-license-google-never-needed-to-post-news-snippets.shtml |date=April 11, 2016 }}, TechDirt. In December 2014, Google announced it would be shutting down the Google News service in Spain.{{cite web|url=http://www.cnet.com/news/google-news-to-close-up-shop-in-spain-in-response-to-new-law/|title=Google News to close up shop in Spain in response to new law|date=December 11, 2014|publisher=CBS Interactive|work=CNET|access-date=December 11, 2014|archive-date=May 25, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160525013518/http://www.cnet.com/news/google-news-to-close-up-shop-in-spain-in-response-to-new-law/|url-status=live}} A new law in Spain, lobbied for by the Spanish newspaper publishers' association AEDE, required for news aggregators to pay news services for the right to use snippets of their stories on Google News.{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/dec/11/google-news-spain-to-close-in-response-to-tax-on-story-links |title=Google News Spain to close in response to story links 'tax |website=TheGuardian.com |date=December 11, 2014 |access-date=December 14, 2016 |archive-date=July 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180721111326/https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/dec/11/google-news-spain-to-close-in-response-to-tax-on-story-links |url-status=live |last1=Rushe |first1=Dominic }} Google chose to shut down their service and remove all links to Spain-based news sites from international versions of the site.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-30426496|title=Google to shut Spanish news service|newspaper=BBC News|date=2014-12-11|access-date=July 20, 2018|archive-date=May 31, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180531023845/http://www.bbc.com/news/business-30426496|url-status=live}} The Spanish version reopened in 2022, after Spain transposed the 2019 European Union copyright rule into national law, enabling media outlets to negotiate with tech companies rather than imposing a mandatory fee system.{{Cite news |date=June 22, 2022 |title=Google News re-opens in Spain after eight-year shutdown |url=https://www.reuters.com/technology/google-news-re-opens-spain-after-eight-year-shutdown-2022-06-22/ |work=Reuters}}

In 2012, Brazil's National Association of Newspapers (AJN) jointly pulled out of allowing their content to be shown on Google News. The change resulted in only a "negligible" drop in traffic {{Cite news |date=2012-10-20 |title=Brazilian newspapers pull out of Google News |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-20018221 |access-date=2023-08-15}}

In October 2020, Google announced a new program known as "Showcases", in which the company would pay publishers to curate featured news content displayed in branded panels on Google News and Discover. Showcases may occasionally include free access to paywalled content. The program was first launched in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The feature's launch in Australia came amid the implementation of the country's News Media Bargaining Code; Google stated that it believed the Showcase program was in compliance with the Code.{{Cite web |last=Porter |first=Jon |date=2021-02-10 |title=Google now pays 450 sites to bring you free news, including some paywalled stories |url=https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/10/22276544/google-news-showcase-uk-argentina-launch-license-paywall-content |access-date=2023-08-15 |website=The Verge |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Ha |first=Anthony |date=2020-12-02 |title=Google says its News Showcase will add free access to paywalled stories |url=https://techcrunch.com/2020/12/02/google-news-showcase-paywalled-stories/ |access-date=2023-08-15 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Meese |first=James |title=Why Google is now funnelling millions into media outlets, as Facebook pulls news for Australia |url=http://theconversation.com/why-google-is-now-funnelling-millions-into-media-outlets-as-facebook-pulls-news-for-australia-155468 |access-date=2021-02-20 |website=The Conversation |date=February 18, 2021 |language=en}}

In response to the Online News Act, Google announced it would block all Canadian news sites from visitors located in Canada, when the act goes into effect near the end of 2023.{{Cite web |last=Bureau |first=Raisa Patel Ottawa |date=2023-06-29 |title=Google to block access to Canadian news for anyone living in Canada |url=https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/google-to-block-access-to-canadian-news-for-anyone-living-in-canada/article_60fe17be-bac5-51e3-892a-9391240ad32b.html |access-date=2023-08-15 |website=Toronto Star |language=en}}

Features and customization

A pull-down menu at the top of search results enables users to specify the time period in which they wish to search for articles. This menu includes options such as: past day, past week, past month, or a custom range.

Users can request e-mail "alerts" on various keyword topics by subscribing to Google News Alerts. E-mails are sent to subscribers whenever news articles matching their requests come online. Alerts are also available via RSS and Atom feeds.

Users used to be able to customize the displayed sections, their location on the page, and how many stories are visible with a JavaScript-based drag and drop interface. However, for the US site, this has been disabled in favor of a new layout; roll-out of this layout is planned for other locales in the near future. Stories from different editions of Google News can be combined to form one personalized page, with the options stored in a cookie. The service has been integrated with Google Search History since November 2005. Upon its graduation from beta, a section was added that displays recommended news based on the user's Google News search history and the articles the user has clicked on (if the user has signed up for Search History).

A revamped version of Google News was introduced in May 2018 that included artificial intelligence features to help users find relevant information.{{cite news |last1=Perez |first1=Sarah |title=Google News gets an AI-powered redesign |url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/08/google-news-gets-an-ai-powered-redesign/ |access-date=January 29, 2019 |work=TechCrunch |date=May 8, 2018 |archive-date=January 29, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190129122937/https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/08/google-news-gets-an-ai-powered-redesign/ |url-status=live }}

News Archive Search

{{Main|Google News Archive}}

On June 6, 2006, Google News expanded, adding a News Archive Search feature, offering users historical archives going back more than 200 years from some of its sources. There was a timeline view available, to select news from various years.

An expansion of the service was announced on September 8, 2008, when Google News began to offer indexed content from scanned newspapers.{{Cite news |title=Bringing history online, one newspaper at a time |url=http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/bringing-history-online-one-newspaper.html|date=September 8, 2008 |access-date=September 8, 2008 |archive-date=July 3, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110703055032/http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/bringing-history-online-one-newspaper.html |url-status=live }} The depth of chronological coverage varies; beginning in 2008, the entire content of the New York Times back to its founding in 1851 has been available.

In early 2010, Google removed direct access to the archive search from the main Google News page, advanced news search page and default search results pages. These pages indicated that the search covered "Any time", but did not include the archive and only included recent news.

During the summer of 2010, Google decided to redesign the format of the Google news page. This redesign engendered significant complaints from regular users of the service.{{cite web |url=http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/news/label?lid=06c20bed07a04da6&hl=en |title=Google Discussiegroepen |access-date=2013-06-10 |archive-date=August 28, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110828102823/http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/news/label?lid=06c20bed07a04da6&hl=en |url-status=dead }}

In May 2011, Google cancelled plans to scan further old newspapers. About 60 million newspaper pages had been scanned prior to this event.{{cite web|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/20/google_ends_newspaper_scanning_project/|title=Google euthanizes newspaper archive scan plan|website=The Register|access-date=August 10, 2017|archive-date=August 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810171435/https://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/20/google_ends_newspaper_scanning_project/|url-status=live}} Google announced that it would instead focus on "Google One Pass, a platform that enables publishers to sell content and subscriptions directly from their own sites".{{cite news |title=Google Ending Newspaper Archiving Project |url=https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2385664,00.asp |newspaper=PC Magazine |date=May 20, 2011 |access-date=May 20, 2011 |first=Leslie |last=Horn |archive-date=February 24, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224055120/http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2385664,00.asp |url-status=live }}

In August 2011, the "News Archive Advanced Search" functionality was removed entirely, again generating complaints from regular users who found that the changes rendered the service unusable.{{cite web|url=https://www.google.com/support/forum/p/news/thread?tid=11abf9e92882b59f&hl=en&fid=11abf9e92882b59f0004aafec50a9040 |title=Google Discussiegroepen |access-date=2013-06-10}} Archival newspaper articles could still be accessed via the Google News Search page, but key functionalities such as the timeline view and ability to specify more than 10 results per page were removed.

Coverage artifacts

On September 7, 2008, United Airlines, which was the subject of an indexed, archived article, lost and later not quite regained US$1 billion in market value when a 2002 Chicago Tribune article about the bankruptcy filing of the airline in that year appeared in the current "most viewed" category on the website of the Sun-Sentinel, a sister paper. Google News index's next pass found the link as new news, and Income Security Advisors found the Google result to be new news, which was passed along to Bloomberg News, where it was briefly a current headline and very widely viewed.{{Cite news|author=Helft, Miguel|title=How a Series of Mistakes Hurt Shares of United|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/technology/15google.html|work=The New York Times|access-date=September 15, 2008|date=September 15, 2008|archive-date=December 11, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211172533/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/technology/15google.html|url-status=live}}

See also

References

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